What words can I possibly choose to describe the sense of disbelief I am feeling now? How stupid do you think I am, John McCain?
I, like Sarah Palin, am a 44-year old mother. Like Palin, I hold several degrees. Sarah Palin and I both like to fish and hunt and enjoy the outdoors. And we both have our eldest sons serving on active duty in the U.S. military.
But - good Lord - even I, as a member of the the allegedly low-information, perimenopausal, pansuit-wearing Sisterhood, wouldn't want my 44-year old peer only a hearbeat away from the Presidency!
Below the fold, an ex-PUMA's thoughts on McCain's selection of Sarah Palin:
There is no friggin' way on this Earth that I will EVER vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. And, truth be told, a month or so ago I was cool as the proverbial cucumber to Barack Obama. Why?
Well, as a professional woman in her forties - who works in a male-dominated field - I've seen a lot of sexism firsthand. And, yes, I saw the sexism that was rampant during the Democratic primary and it made me nauseous. I was a HRC delegate to my county and state conventions, and wasn't too happy with some behavior I saw from the Obama crowd. I boycotted DKos. My vote, my choice.
But - hey! - my neurons are still functioning, and there is NO WAY that I am going to be duped into pulling the lever for someone who was mayor of Mystery, Alaska (or wherever) TWO YEARS AGO, is anti-choice, anti-birth control, pro-drilling, and currently involved in a scandal that involves abuse of power (how much power does the Governor of Alaska have, anyway? 18 months in and she's already screwed it up?)
I've been following Sarah Palin's career with vague interest for the last year or so, because we have a lot in common - our ages, our interests, military motherhood, beauty pageants (yeah, that too) - (except, of course, that I've been a registered Democrat since I was 18).
Palin seemed like a compatriot, a fellow traveler in the working woman/motherhood/political activism sphere. Wrong side of history, being a Republican and all, but I don't kick into Auto-Hate because someone has a different political dogma.
But, Good Lord, Sarah Palin was chosen because she lacks a Y chromosome. That's it. Her resume is as thin as a sheet of tissue paper. And John McCain and his gang think that I (and a sizable chunk of my Sisterhood) are going to pull the lever for the McCain/Palin ticket because they made a "Me, Too!" pick for Vice? Give us at least this much: we ex-PUMAs (and current ones, too) have damn fine B.S. Detectors, and mine is off the scale this morning.
Parting words:
"John McCain, take your mother-frigging patronizing little hand off my shoulder."